[Varn]

My "Camo van", a 99 Ford Windstar has two major recalls on it. The front engine cradle and the rear axle are both prone to rust damage and failure.

I take the car to a local service center for maintenance. The mechanic said that the front cradle showed some thinning so my car is suffering some wear.

I think why not take the car into a Ford dealer for repair of replacement? So after looking at the recalls on the internet, I find that there are a lot of reports of people having their Windstars failing inspection but then the Dealer doesn't repair it but rather gives them a voucher for a new Ford and junks the car. The same group of owners are saying that the dealers not giving you your not repaired car back unless you sign a form stating that you know you have an unsafe car.

Rather disturbing to say the least. I have not talked to the local Dealer about this.

My car has 166,000 miles on it. Doesn't burn any oil shifts great and gets 25mpg on the highway. It still has the original exhaust system on it. The car spent its entire first 11 years in Illinois I know it has rust. I don't want to drive an unsafe car.

I went to a local salvage yard a month ago for taillight and found that they had 10 ford windstars without crash damage and 3-4 with obvious crash damage. I thought great a good source of spare parts. Only later did I get to thinking why were there so many "good" cars there.

So is Ford acting unethical? Using a recall to sell cars?